To The Moon and Back
by JEK623
Summary: Henley is pregnant with Danny's baby- the nine months they spent preparing for the birth of their child. -Danley
1. Chapter 1

A/N: For **daseyloverwholived. **Spite the fact that I don't really ship them, I am super excited for this fic; hope you enjoy :)

_Prompt: __my idea is Denley fic where Henley is pregnant._

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_**Month One. **_

Henley paced the stuffy apartment, the pregnancy test in her hands. Her fingers stroked the ends of the small white stick, trying to supply the truth to her mind; if only it were easy to tell yourself that the little pink plus sign meant positive.. that you were pregnant with J. Daniel Atlas' baby.

Tears had gently stroked her cheeks as she creaked along the rickety floorboards, occasionally glancing up at the door to see when the three other Horsemen would be back, bearing news on their latest tail, so she could tell them she was bearing a... a _thing, _inside her.

"What's up, red?" Merritt McKinney asked, the door banging behind him as he and Jack Wilder entered the apartment, bearing food and other miscellaneous items.

"Where's Danny?" she asks, tucking the small white stick behind her back.

Jack raises an eyebrow, "Why?"

But Merritt seems to catch on, expertly lunging at her and whisking her loot away. He whirls around Jack, and they puzzle over the stick, before slowly looking up at her with wide, surprised eyes.

"So, you finally did it?" Merritt inquires as a small twitch tugs Jack's lip into a smirk. Henley growls and snatches the stick back, trying not to give them the benefit of the doubt.

They'd been an item for a few months now, though it'd felt like forever since they first met. Together, they only strengthened the bond between the Four Horsemen.

It was at that moment that Danny banged through the door, dropping his own loot off on a grungy ottoman they'd smuggled off the streets, and turned to the remainder of his team. He raised an eyebrow at the men, who smiled sardonically at him, before making a weak excuse that they left something in the car.

The minute the door shut, Danny turned to his girlfriend, his eyebrows disappearing under his scruffy chocolate hair, "What was that about?"

Henley bit her lip, looking anywhere but him as she slowly drew the pregnancy test from behind her and offered it to him. She stared at the ceiling as he made place of what it said, watching a peel of paint dismember itself of it's paint, and flutter to the floor, glinting in the sunlight pouring through the windows, as it floated to the floorboards.

"You're pregnant?" his voice is blank, eyes boring into her abdomen, as she continued to avoid eye contact, willing herself not to cry.

_Oh my gosh, what if he doesn't love me anymore? What if we break up and they exclude me from the group, and I can't get into the Eye? What if I end up like what I was befor- _

Warm hands slide around her waist, and she finds her face buried in Danny's muscular shoulder, breathing in his intoxicating scent.

"You're pregnant!" Now, his voice was super, genuinely cheerful, as he lifted her thin frame and spun her around.

She hears Merritt and Jack return, laughing and punching each other friendly on the shoulders, as the other half of the Four Horsemen congratulated them.

Henley buried her face into Danny, her arm wrapping around his waist, as his tucked around the shoulder, pulling her flush against him.

All she can picture is raising a baby with this beautiful man, and for the first time since she received the results, a smile blooms across her face.

_A/N: Hope you enjoyed. More to come (:_


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: For **daseyloverwholived. **Spite the fact that I don't really ship them, I am super excited for this fic; hope you enjoy :)

_Prompt: my idea is Denley fic where Henley is pregnant._

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_**Month Two. **_

Danny rises at two a.m. a few weeks later to the sound of Henley stumbling through the apartment, bumping into furniture and cursing as she makes her way to the bathroom.

When he manages to navigate into the open bathroom through his sleepy haze, he finds Jack and Merritt had risen also, rubbing their eyes as they all hover in the bathroom doorway to watch as the redhead keels over the toilet, hacking and coughing.

Groaning, Danny grabs a hairtie off the sink and tugs his girlfriend's hair back, massaging her back soothingly.

"How much longer?" Merritt whines, stumbling over to the coffee maker, flipping light switches along the way.

"_You're talking?!"_ Henley snaps through her retching, coughing and hacking more violently. Not wanting to be caught in the crossfire, Jack follows Merritt to get some caffeine in his still-sleeping body.

"You need anything, babe?" Danny offers, moving to the sink to splash water on his face.

"Oh, babe, I don't need anything," his girlfriend coos suddenly, halting her retching to smile brightly, "You do so much for me; I love you, baby!" she calls, standing on shaky legs to tighten her arms around him, vomit dripping down her chin.

Politely, Danny skirts out of her mouth range, tagging up a piece of toilet paper to wipe at her mouth.

"I'm going to go get some breakfast," Danny informs her, after flushing the toilet a few times and spraying an overpowering amount of Febreze, "If you need anything, let me know."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Henley snaps again, running a hand through her hair. The ponytail he'd applied raggedly in her hair falls out and spanks the wooden floors, as she disappeared back into their bedroom.

Danny fended off his hurt- he knew the stages of pregnancy from when his mother had his little brother- but it still pained him that she was faltering through the mood swings and morning sickness of the first trimester. At least it was a healthy pregnancy, he marvels.

When he skips down to the kitchen, he hears the end of Jack and Merritt's conversation, " - I just feel like it could interfere with our instructions from the Eye. I mean, a pregnancy obviously wasn't in the blueprints-"

It was Merritt speaking. Jack was leaning against the counter, quietly slurping his coffee; almost as if he was the child in question of custody between his parents.

Danny breathed a curse as he trudged through the door, filling his coffee mug and taking a long hearty sip. Merritt looks alarmed; Jack stays stoic, suddenly without his usual cute smirk.

Leaning against the counter, across from Jack, Danny takes another sip, waiting for conversation to resurface. But it never did.

"This wasn't exactly planned, Merritt," he informs; in the distance, all that is heard is Henley repeating her cycle: stumbling and after a few minutes, the toilet flushing again.

The three remaining Horsemen listen as Henley returns to her bedroom, muttering incoherent things as she flopped back onto their shaky bed, cursing at her sudden, swelling pain.

Sighing, Danny glances at the clock, before turning to the living room, where he saw a deck of cards fanned out on the ottoman.

After Merritt saluted them awkwardly, he headed off to bed, Jack following soon after.

Instead of following them, he headed into the living room, flipping through the deck of cards. Distracting himself from the latest drama, he worked on his latest card trick, marveling at how magic comes at ease during tough times. That's probably why he originally started working card tricks as a teen, escalating to more dangerous tricks as more people fell in love with his little brother, treating Daniel like he was invisible.

Maybe that's why he enjoyed this sudden attention because of the eye.

Because for the first time in his life, he didn't feel invisible.

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Days stumbled by with the same routine.

Henley's body seemed to be thinning out, spite her constant shoveling of food down her throat, and seemed to get bitchier as time got on.

At certain moments, he noticed a look from Merritt to Jack pass when Henley was up again puking, or she was complaining about having the constant need to pee, or just anything about her pregnancy.

After Danny did some research on the computer -in between working on the Eye's instructions- and found a schedule of a healthy pregnancy timeline, which he passed to Jack and Merritt after Henley returned to her bed after a seven a.m. puke party.

"Whoa, when did we become a part of this family?" Merritt asked as he scanned the list.

"Seven more months?" Jack groans in unison, as he slowly crosses the room to pour more coffee, "I don't know if I can handle this!"

"_Are you being serious?_" Danny asks, anger rising through him.

Merritt just raises an eyebrow, as Jack raises his arms in surrender, "Just cause Henley's bitching, doesn't mean you have that right." Daniel cracked a smile, as Jack tried to swallow a loud chuckle.

"Sorry," Daniel states, a smart-ass note in his voice.

He agrees that he earns the slap on the back of the head Merritt supplies him.

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It was a Thursday night when Henley requested her first unusual food.

"I'm going on a food run," Jack informs them as the rest of them continue to plan out how to interpret the Eye's next step. "Anyone want anything?"

Jack's "accident" had occurred that same day, so he got a day off to play low key until they started working with the safes. He was headed to their grungy apartment convenience store, so there was limited supplies, enough to get you by.

"Nacho cheese and Twix." Henley replies in a voice that made it sound like you were saying _French fries._

Thankfully, Jack didn't make a smart comment, just turned to the rest of the team with a raised eyebrow.

"Water," Merritt states and Danny agrees meekly.

After Jack leaves, they continue working out the instructions, when Merritt speaks up with his usual smartass-swag, "Twix and nacho cheese?"

Henley simply shrugs, "Yeah."

And that was the end of that.

But all Danny can pray for is that it will be only _this hard _the remaining seven months of her pregnancy.

_A/N: Month three will appear soon, hope you enjoyed! Leave a review if you enjoyed it ;)_


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: For **daseyloverwholived. **Spite the fact that I don't really ship them, I am super excited for this fic; hope you enjoy :)

_Prompt: my idea is Denley fic where Henley is pregnant._

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_**Month Three. **_

Henley was getting lazy.

There were points as time went on that she'd just show up in the apartment with her hair tossed high in a bun, wearing only a sport's bra and sweats, much to the other's dismay.

They were at the point in their instructions that meant that they had to stay undercover and secluded behind their work, and she kept blowing it off, her stomach growing as much as her attitude.

It seemed to go unnoticed by the Eye and their FBI 'friends' that her stomach was stretching out of her thin clothes, and that she seemed to be moving slower than anyone else when it came to physical activity.

Another severe issue was her complaints.

There were moments before a show that she whined about her hunger, or how her breasts were sore, that made everything ten times more awkward for the remaining Horsemen.

"You're glad you didn't hear Henley at the show earlier," Merritt would whisper to Jack as Danny was leaving to go get Henley more nasty food combinations, or when Henley was yelling about how she hated everyone.

It just made everything more complicated for their already narrow instructions from the Eye.

The other half of the Four Horsemen tried to be light and happy for Danny and Henley's pregnancy, but Daniel saw when Merritt rolled his eyes, or Jack clenched his fists out of annoyance, or their random "food runs" were really to escape the pungent womanly hormones.

Sighing, Danny tried to will the fact that there were only six more months, and that hopefully, the Eye would accept them and after Henley's pregnancy, the tension between the Four Horsemen would minimalize at drastic rates.

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A few mornings later, Henley rises at two p.m. and storms into the kitchen, a pissed emotion radiating off her.

"Look, the Wicked Witch of the West has risen from hell," Merritt whispers to Jack, who swallows hard, his cute smirk coiling on his lip. Instead of Henley's usual ego bubble bouncing the insult away, she turned to them with a thick forest fire in her violet eyes. Her blood-red lipstick was smudged, as a half-frown tugged her mouth into an angered line.

Storming across the room, lightning flashes as she slammed the heels of her hands onto the table, her ice glare trained on them, like a sniper waiting for their prey, "You are so lucky I don't know the magic trick on how to cut someone's balls off."

Jack laughed out loud; Merritt stared at her with a thick, disgusting admiration in his eyes; Danny laughed, applauding her from his position at the computer.

And just to piss them off, the next day, Henley strutted through her bedroom door in a pair of gorgeous black slacks and a nice red tank top, her hair piled on top of her head with loose curls framing her face, which was washed and sported new makeup.

_That'll show them I'm not that wicked, _she thought with a smirk as she made breakfast, swallowing her angered insults and lust to complain about her body feeling like it was branded with lead.

She was sore all over and all she wanted was carrots with hot sauce, but she couldn't demand that because that would let them win.

"Hen," Arms encircle her rounded middle, Danny's head falling gracefully on her shoulder as she stirred some soup in a pot for the guys' lunch, "you don't have to do anything for anyone." he informs her, his hands smoothing over her body, leaving warmth all over.

"Sure," he continues, "you aren't the happiest, friendliest, most easy pregnant woman-"

"I get it." she snaps a little too loudly, breaking her facade long enough for her fellow magicians to notice.

"But all that matters," he talks over her, "is that you're healthy. It's okay to be yourself here, as long as we don't let the FBI win because there's a hidden obstacle in our orders." he continues to run his hands up and down her sides, making her pain disintegrate for a few, gorgeous seconds.

"Thank you," she whispers as he lets a loud, smacking kiss press to her cheek.

"Love you," he replies, watching her smile bloom, his following soon after.

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For the first time in the three months of Henley's pregnancy, the show went of without a hitch.

The remaining trio went through their show with great vigor, only pausing if Henley got a little too energetic and almost jacked the routine. Syrupy caffeine was running through her veins, after stealing a sip - _a sip - _of Merritt's Pepsi, and she was turning into Glinda the Good compared to her Elphaba self the day before.

"Think we should start trading her waters for Pepsi or coffee from now on?" Merritt whispered in his smartass tone, as they were cleaning themselves up before returning to the apartment.

Danny can't let his chuckle slide, but informs, "No way." Merritt rolls his eyes and skips off toward the car.

"Hey, babe," Henley strides up, towel-drying her bright hair and wrapping her arms tight around his waist. Standing on her tiptoes, she kisses his lips hungrily, fingers tugging the ends of his hair. He grins, arms twining around her waist as he dips her back gently.

"Hey, Romeo and Juliet," Merritt calls from the car, "Let's go."

Rolling her eyes, Henley leads him back to the car, and as they duck back into the car, Danny smiles.

The ride from this venue is a little longer, and Henley falls asleep on his shoulder on the way. City lights paint her face, brightening her makeup-less face, and her hair shines in his eyes as he drinks her in.

Sweet-smelling aromas greet them when they step back into the apartment. When they get into the kitchen, they find Jack with smears of ingredients on his face. He paces the kitchen, digging through empty cupboards for some sort of bowls and forks. The ottoman was covered with a few fluffy white towels from the bathroom and there were three beers and a water set up neatly.

When he finds the rest of their confused faces, he shrugs with the simple statement: "I got bored."

It all would've been really nice if Henley didn't cover her mouth and mumble, "excuse me" before running to the bathroom; Jack looks hurt. It disappears from his face a few seconds, but it betrays him.

"Don't be offended man," Merritt consoles, wrapping an arm around the young magician, "It's a pregnant-woman thing."

"So," Danny asks, "What're we having?"

"Spaghetti and rolls," Jack tells them, turning to open their old oven and prodding at the rolls, which looked perfectly homemade.

"I didn't know you were a cook, Jack," Danny states later, as they're cleaning up their empty bowls and tossing them in the sink.

" Probably cause we never have time to make dinners," Jack explains, scrubbing the plates quickly and sticking them in the one cupboard they actually use.

It was true. Most of the time, it was smuggling candy bars and sodas from the grungy store in the basement of their apartment complex, or cheap generic stuff from the maximart down the street.

"Yeah, that was _really good,_" Merritt congratulates him, as he takes his empty plate in. He had seconds willingly.

"Mind if I take a roll up to Henley?" Danny asks and Jack offers one.

Jogging to their room, Danny grabs a water and kicks the door open to see Henley sitting on the ground, head on her knees. She looks up at him through her thick hair, and returns to her previous position.

"Hey, hey, hey," Danny whispers, "what's wrong?"

"Jack," Henley states blankly through tears, "I hurt his feelings."

"It's not your fault, Hen," a voice states from the door, and both turn to Jack at the door. He crosses the room to sit crosslegged across from her. He puts his hands on her knees, "I'll cook for you in six months."

Henley laughs out loud through her tears.

"Alright, we should get to work," Merritt pokes his head into the room, stopping and putting on a girly voice, "_Aww! Family moment!" _Jack stands and follows Merritt out, patting Henley's leg as he goes.

Danny stands and offers his girlfriend both of his hands, "Ready?"

She takes them, heaving her pregnant body up, "Always."

_A/N: Two in one day! I'll try for three. Spite the fact I don't really ship them, I love this story! I saw the film twice, and soon, I'm going to see it for a third time with my friend, Kayla, cause I'm OBSESSED! _


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: For **daseyloverwholived. **Spite the fact that I don't really ship them, I am super excited for this fic; hope you enjoy :)

_Prompt: my idea is Denley fic where Henley is pregnant._

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_**Month Four. **_

_One trimester down, two to go. _Danny reminds himself as he sat against the headboard, massaging Henley's pained stomach.

She'd been writhing around all night, still engrossed in sleep, but whining about her pain. He discovered that if he gave her a massage, he got a few minutes of silence. But he knew that it wouldn't last.

His own body had grown tired from her kicking him off the bed the last few nights, so he was grateful for the few minutes of sweet silence he sucked in, like a drug-addict dependent on heroin.

After a few minutes, he lays back down, closing his eyes. He actually thinks he'll fall asleep when he earns a swift kick to the stomach, which tackles him off the bed, forcing him to bang his head off the nightstand, bringing the alarm clock with him; it hits him clean in the chest.

Groaning, he stands and sneaks out the door.

For once in a long time, the apartment is dark. Pungent snores waft through the paper thin walls between the living space and Merritt's room, and he can hear Jack roll over restlessly two rooms away.

Spying the futon next to the computer, Danny uses the city lights outside to guide him to the beat up bedding. Falling on it with ease, he masks himself with a thin sheet and falls into a dead sleep, one he hasn't gotten in months.

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The next morning, he wakens to a scream.

Merritt and Jack rise from their rooms, rubbing their eyes with quizzical looks as the three men meet and approach the open bathroom door. Cautiously, they peer in.

It's Henley.

She's wearing a hot pink sports bra and cutoff sweats, and she's stretching the skin on the side of her left hip, examining it in the mirror. Four jagged vein-like marks color the skin that she prods at, almost like a frog during dissection.

"I have stretch marks!" she cries, turning to her fellow magicians, and she points at them as if they hadn't seen them already. She stands on shaky legs, and her ankles are swelled. Dark circles captivate her eyes, and she looks as if she was an insomniac. Her growing belly seemed to weigh her down, like a paradox.

Her clothes were almost ripping from the expansion of her body. It was horrid to watch.

"I hate you!" she states, pointing her finger right in Danny's face; it almost bumps his nose.

With that, she strides past her accomplices, shouldering Jack hard as she shoves past and storms back into her bedroom. A slam of the door completes her dramatic exit.

Danny feels hollow. Even as Merritt claps him on the shoulder, and Jack gives an apologetic look, he sees their wary glances toward the door. He hears Merritt mutter something about researching pregnancy hypnosis as he and Jack go to the kitchen. The acrid scent of coffee abuses his nose as he stands paralyzed in the bathroom doorway.

He knows she didn't mean it.

But he couldn't deny the pain wrenching in his gut, twisting and poking his stomach to mush. His mind wandered.

_What if she leaves? What if she really hates me and wants me to move out? What if I don't get into the Eye? What i-_

"Danny." It's Jack. He's holding two cups, one which he folds Danny's fingers around, "You know. It's a pregnant-woman thing."

Merritt's quote from the night before couldn't hold back the chuckle Danny let slip. Smiling, the Brooklyn native wrapped a hand around the scruffy magician's shoulder and dragged him to the kitchen, letting the stiff air behind.

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That night, he peers through the crack in the door of their bedroom, staring at the lone figure curled timidly on the bed. Shiny red hair is blinding from the lamplight, and he can see a surprisingly calm expression clad on his girlfriend's face.

Cautiously, Danny twists the knob and crept into the room, flicking off Henley's bedside lamp before tiptoeing to his side and drawing back the covers. Slipping into the warm envelope, he soon dims into a sad silence.

A warm arm curls around his waist, and he feels a heart-shaped chin dig into his shoulder, kissing the bare skin of his shoulder, "I'm sorry."

"It's okay, you're stressed." Danny says, playing with the ring on Henley's thumb. Tender fingers caress his stomach, and he looks down to the cut up skin of Henley's hand. When she was a teenager, she had almost killed herself from the neglect of her family, and with her being the social outcast, she felt as if it was the only release.

Danny remembers the night she told them.

It was before their relationship became official, and they were working late with the others when Henley unstrapped her glove and let the sacred skin hit the bare air. They all couldn't help but stare at the thin red cuts separating the smooth skin into little lone strips, up to the skin on her wrists, which had faded and were now little brackets over her wire blue veins.

Intertwining their fingers, Danny rolls over so he can face her. Her pale skin shines in the moonlight, and her eyes light up as he leans down to peck her lips.

Travelling down her torso with his mouth, he whispers, "You're beautiful no matter what; thin, obese, round-"

"We are not getting into an argument over that trapdoor," Henley tells him, reaching down to mold their lips together.

And just with that, the small movement to press lips to lips, the couple knows that everything will be okay.

.

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_A/N: I just thought of a way to explain why she wore the gloves the whole movie! Interesting concept, I think, review if you want more ;)_


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: For **daseyloverwholived. **Spite the fact that I don't really ship them, I am super excited for this fic; hope you enjoy :)

_Prompt: my idea is Denley fic where Henley is pregnant._

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_**Month Five. **_

Henley's skin was darkening.

Her porcelain face was now splotchy with dark patches. She'd whined even more about how much she hated the feeling she got in her fingers and feet, which were swelling at excessive rates.

"Well, at least we're halfway through," Jack encouraged one day when he got back from a food run, tossing sandwiches around and handing Henley a takeout bowl of salad. She eats it with a pout solid on her bruised-like conplexion.

But she couldn't deny the warm feeling when Jack had said _we're, _that he and Merritt were a part of this, as well. She was glad that they weren't alone in this.

If her parents knew, they wouldn't do anything. It wouldn't matter if she had a child; all that matters were her sisters perfect ability to find dependent husbands who they would soon have kids with in their perfect little suburban towns, close enough to visit the grandparents. Her brother would be some drunk at college by now.

She didn't know about Danny's family, promptly because she never met them.

He'd never spoken of family, maybe speaking of an extended family member once, but they never resurfaced.

Merritt stood up, crunching his greasy food wrappers into his fist and shooting it toward the trash can; it decks off the wall, kissing the edge of the hoop and smacking the floor with an oily _flop._

"My turn." Jack states, pressing a hand to Merritt's chest to push him back. Balling his into a boulder, he cocks his arm back and it sails through the air, whizzing past the can. "Damn!"

"_My turn," _Henley tells them, flipping a few strands of ruby hair off her shoulder before snatching Danny's wrapper off his lap and wrapping it in her palm and posing in a pitching stance before letting the sopping wrap fly. It bounces off a counter and falls clean into the bin. "Voila!"

"If only it were that easy with the FBI." Danny states, peering out the window as he fell back into the computer chair, and of course, that meant it's time for work, not play.

.

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Henley was hitting the insomniac peak in her pregnancy.

There were moments when Danny wouldn't feel any abuse, so he'd roll over and flop into their sheets, still faintly perfumed of her. Then, he would hear the dim rustling of her movements around the apartment- the flip of a page, the computer booting up, ballpoint pen _scritch-scritching _paper.

Knowing it would be idiotic to bother her, he'd opt to listen instead.

As she paced, played with her phone, she would mutter incoherent notes to herself. Almost as if she were alone- without anyone that she needed to voice her thoughts so she didn't hear forever-blank silence.

One specific night, he heard Jack get up from his room to hover in his doorway, the faint creak of his futon, to his whispering footsteps, to his greeting to Henley.

The coffee brew chugged as Jack talked quietly to Henley. A light laugh fell from her throat. He heard the baby slurps falling from their coffee mugs as they chatted a while longer, before Danny heard their door creak open, and she slipped into bed next to him.

Her arms curled around him, and he rolled over to envelope her in his arms.

"What were you and Jack talking about?" he whispers into her hair, inhaling her strawberry shampoo. Another gentle chuckle fell from her lips, "He said he was surprised that the whole city wasn't awake from my rummaging. He's a sweetheart."

"Not more than me, right?" Danny asks, smiling into the juncture between her shoulder and neck, kissing that sensitive spot.

She turns to Danny, a smile gentle on her face, "Of course not. But he and Merritt are pretty darn close."

"Oh?" Danny asks, his fingers wandering to tickle her. But instead of her giggle, he heard a whine, ".. you okay?"

"Yeah, just... _ah,_" Her cry is quiet. She finds his hand in the dark and presses it to her stomach. At first, he feels nothing, but then he feels it.

A hollow _thud_ that resembled a baby's kick.

_A/N: I thought that was a cute place to end it. My Jenley heart had to fit a moment between them in. I hope you enjoyed it! I can't believe I'm halfway through!_


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: For **daseyloverwholived. **Spite the fact that I don't really ship them, I am super excited for this fic; hope you enjoy :)

_Prompt: my idea is Denley fic where Henley is pregnant._

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_**Month Six.**_

The department store was large and white, with many mirrors and racks upon racks of clothing.

"I think it's over here," Henley says, leading her fellow magicians through the women's section to a large expanse of flowy floral clothing, announced with a big purple sign hanging from the ceiling: maternity.

The redhead was glowing. She was in her element; she remembered as a teen, driving out of their small town to the big shopping center with friends, choosing colorful, tight clothes that accentuated their assets, shadowing their unattractive features.

But now, she had one attractive feature that was her beach ball belly. Unlike most women who would be moaning about their ankles, which were swelled so much that she almost couldn't stand, and her face was still patched with dark spots, but to her, it was worth it for her child.

Ever since she felt the baby's kick in her tummy, it was all she could talk about. There were moments in a conversation where she would grab someone's hand and press it to her stomach just long enough to feel the baby's few swift kicks to the walls of her rounded stomach.

It was even more evident if she had coffee.

Henley was a coffee lover, and sometimes she willed for a coffee binge, but instead only opted for a ounce sip; it still set her off with energy. Danny was really apt on keeping Henley's appetite healthy; he wanted his child to be healthy and happy.

Reminiscing, he remembers the sonogram.

Henley was gripping his hand so hard that he almost screamed out. Remembering her giggles when the cool gel was spread on her stomach, the little controller skating on her skin.

Danny was a little jumpy on the gender of the baby, but Henley demanded that she wanted to be surprised.

Why he remembers this now is unknown, but he still lets his girlfriend drag him through the section. Money was in full swing now, after having a few shows that earned a great amount, but he could see Merritt slip the correct amount of their budget in and out of his pocket, counting nervously.

After a few sets of clothing were chosen and paid for with a little left over, they opted to hail a cab and return to the apartment. When they saw the FBI standardized sedan curling around the corner and park. Jack almost dropped the shopping bags, Merritt was immediately on alert and he and Danny helped Henley back into the store, Jack holding the door for them.

"Forgot something," Merritt calls to the concerned cashier as they ducked through to a dressing room. Space was tight between the four, especially Henley's tummy, but they all hovered quietly, listening to the bell dinging as the door swung open.

It was the woman from Interpol.

Eyes widened as Merritt peeked through the crack in the door, watching the woman finger some lace underwear, wandering around the store to pick at similar clothing pieces.

"Think she's just browsing; trying to wow Mr. FBI," Merritt chuckles, pulling the hood on his jacket up. Danny does the same and Jack picks at the cuff of his leather jacket. Henley peers around in her bags for something to shade her, but comes up with nothing.

Just as they're about to open the door, the woman stops in front of their booth. Fingers stopping on the lock, Jack looks at the others in horror. Outside the woman's walki-talki buzzes, "Dray, anything?"

"Nothing," the woman whispers into the walki-talki; and with that, she struts out of the store, continuing to glance back for any movement. After what felt like an eternity, she left, the buzz of her sedan whirling away.

The Four Horsemen let out a loud sigh of relief.

Police tails had fallen away for a while now, leaving the low key played by the magicians to wear off. Neither knew that there was surveillance trained on them until now.

"Apartment, now." they all agree and try to play it cool as they leave the store, earning many confused looks as they walked down the street quickly.

Being the Brooklyn native he was, Jack hailed the cab while the others surveyed New York's assets, wishing that they could admire closer, and not be so criminal, when a yellow cab pulled over. Merritt got in the front seat and directed the cabbie, while the others squeezed into the back seat.

The redhead flopped back in the middle seat, closing her eyes, "Stress hurts." she informs them, leaning onto Danny's shoulder and touching Jack's arm.

Merritt turns in his seat and chuckles, "Three more months, sweetheart."

Henley groans, "That's so _long!_"

"It'll go quick," Jack consoles her, patting her arm.

"Hopefully," Merritt mutters, making them all laugh.

When they return to their apartment, Jack and Merritt wrestle the heavy shopping bags up the alley to the back of the building, going up the private passage. Danny grins as he untucks himself from the tight space of the cab, offering his arms to Henley, pulling her up with him and onto the sidewalk.

As the cab buzzes away, Danny turns to find Henley staring up at the apartment building with a nostalgic expression.

"So," he asks, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her flush against him, "What are we going to do when this is all over?"

For a long moment, she's silent, still staring up at their window, where Jack passes by, laughing at something as he plugs his cell phone into a outlet in the wall.

"What else?" she asks, "This is our family now."

_A/N: Two in one day! Okay, seriously I hope Jenley isn't falling through, I just ship them too hard! But I'm wrapping my mind around Danley. I've decided there will be nine chapters and an epilogue! Four more chapters!_


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: For **daseyloverwholived. **Spite the fact that I don't really ship them, I am super excited for this fic; hope you enjoy :)

_Prompt: my idea is Denley fic where Henley is pregnant._

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_**Month Seven. **_

As the due date drew closer, Henley was immediately tended to rest.

She and Jack stayed back at the apartment as much as possible, doing projects for the baby's birth, like setting up a crib they had pilfered when 'borrowing' that one delivery truck before Jack's "death", or helping her set up a curtain that would be the baby's nursery until they were able to afford an expanse of an apartment somewhere else. Maybe on a beach, or toward upstate New York, still in a short distance of the city.

Daniel and Merritt tended to keeping the FBI off their tail, including many close calls, car chases and false leads to their apartment number.

"We need to get out of here, soon," Merritt announces once he and Danny come back from another chase, bearing folded up cardboard boxes. At Henley's alarmed expression, Daniel crosses the room and kneels in front of her.

"It's only for a few days, a week at most," Danny assures her, and the men quickly packed their most needed items. Needed papers stuffed in one box, along with the dinosaur computer which Jack had to practically rip from the wall outlet, and a few other things. Clothes were stuffed in random piles, their four outfit sets all crammed into one box.

"Guys," Danny whispers, "they're here."

That's when they all heard the sirens wailing at a distance.

"Okay, Jack," Merritt speaks up, "Get Henley out, now. Daniel and I will gather boxes and get out of here quick as we can." Daniel pulled his girlfriend tight against him, kissing her chastely before passing her off to Jack, who was being embraced tightly by Merritt.

"I'll take care of her, man," Jack confirms before grabbing the box of papers and pulling Henley out the door by the hand.

That was the last they saw of their team. Merritt and Danny gathered the remaining two boxes in their grips, flicking lightswitches on their way out. Merritt tucked the key into his jacket pocket and steeled the door before he and Daniel raced toward the trash shoot on the floor below.

Merritt slid first, boxes following. It was just as the swat team was charging up the stairs that Danny didn't have a choice but to slide down immediately. The steel flap swung a few seconds, and Danny held himself right at the top of the shoot, holding himself up as he listened to the swat teams bang open doors. In the midst of the clattering, Danny felt a hand on his ankle.

Pulling him by his ankle was Merritt, who was forcing him down in the midst of the commotion.

Once they finished squeaking to the bottom, they gathered their loot and scrambled behind trashcans and equipment stands until they were safe in the alley outside their apartment complex. Right in the middle of the clearing, full of rusty junk and torn, flat leaves, was their car,engine purring.

Jack was cranking the key in the ignition as soon as his companions were on the leather seats. Merritt swung in beside the anxious, young magician whilst Daniel and Henley cowered in the back seat.

Every bump they hit as they curled out into an abandoned lot, caused a scream to erupt from Henley, clutching her pregnant stomach. Daniel massaged her tummy as Jack maneuvered through the busy streets, whizzing over splotches of sidewalk in the middle of the intersections, crashing into bikes and other kiosks, FBI tight on their heels.

It was when Jack got ahead of a black sedan similar to theirs, that Jack wired off into another side alley, slowing and parallel parking behind a shit-scented dumpster.

They all breathed heavily as they listened to sirens wail, wail, wail past. It was a little over a half hour later that the sirens stopped.

"We need to get out of the city," Henley states, and the three men look at her with gaping expressions.

"She's right," Merritt admits, and on that note, Jack wrenched the gear shift into reverse and soon they were on the road again, passing town upon town until Daniel gave cue that they were far enough from the city to make camp.

Currently, they were in a small town in the next county, only an hour from the city, and were headed toward a rental residence that Henley had ordered through a cell phone call.

"We're to put a check in the mailbox and they'll come pick it up soon," she informs them as they rumble up to their cottage- it was butter yellow, with white shutters and a black-stained cement porch. Two stories with the ideal family summer home feel. Her swelling face was creased with worry and her eyes were glassy with unshed tears.

Merritt and Jack got to work moving them into their two-story residence.

"It's roomier than the apartment," Merritt observes, letting the box fall to the coffee table in the living room.

"And we have the view of the lake!" Jack admires, drinking in the sun-baked strip of sand that was being revived with the calm tide of the lake.

"What do you think they're doing at the base?" Henley asks as Daniel starts to shift the warming food from one box into the fridge, while Merritt scribbles a check out of an alias' bank account.

"Henley," Daniel soothes, "Without all of the information, it will look just like an average apartment."

"Yeah," Merritt speaks up, "They're not going to touch your nursery tent or go through any of our stuff. If it looks clean, they'll move on."

"So, what's the rest of the instructions?" Jack asks as they all group around the kitchen island.

"Screw the instructions," Merritt corrects, "This is a whole new ball game. _I _say we lay low until we know it's safe to return to the city. We'll finish the instructions there." Daniel wanted to speak, but the elderly magician holds up a hand.

"Daniel," he states, soothing, "If we lay low, they'll forget about us. We come back without a bang, finish the instructions and we're done. For once, just let me guide." His voice is gentle, but authoritative.

Henley answers for him, touching her pregnant belly, feeling the swelling of her stomach. Faintly, the baby kicks, an assurance that no matter what happened, things would turn out.

"Okay."

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_A/N: this blew way out of porportion, but they'll return to their apartment in the next chapter, but the police are still on their tail. stay tuned to see if the popo catch them before their instructions are filled! _


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: For **daseyloverwholived. **Spite the fact that I don't really ship them, I am super excited for this fic; hope you enjoy :)

_Prompt: my idea is Denley fic where Henley is pregnant._

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_**Month Eight.**_

Like Daniel promised, they only stayed a week.

The Four Horsemen seemed to be dimming out of the weekly news, but there was still an update on the FBI's search for redemption, letting them know that their apartment complex was clear.

When they returned to their humble abode, 6A was left trashed, unlike Merritt's promise.

The tent was torn down, the crib ripped apart, left on the floor in shedded splinters, and clothes were strewn all over the floor. Their few cupboards were left open and the fridge was leaking cool air. The bedrooms were open, each drawer opened and upturned, trailing clothing and other things.

It was as if someone was searching for some proof. Proof that the Four Horsemen had been here. That this had been their base.

"What the hell?" Merritt stated as they all piled through the door.

"I need a nap," Henley stated, ignoring the mess and stumbling off to bed.

She kicked all the leftover items off the bed, curling up on the wrinkled pile of blankets, and closed her eyes, letting her silent tears flow. They'd built themselves such a well-structured lifestyle in the past few months of doing shows and prancing around the FBI, always a step ahead.

But now, it was all torn apart.

Closing her eyes, the redhead willed herself to sleep, but couldn't find herself doing so, as she was too awake. Instead, she began maneuvering around the room, attempting at picking up some things, but it all was too hard that she cried out in frustration.

Merritt poked his head in the door, "Need help?"

Letting her tears fall, she muttered, "Yeah," and wiped feverishly at her eyes. Warm arms secured around her, and Merritt smelled thickly of cigarette smoke and alcohol- it was his shirt from the latest show the night before.

"One more month," he informs her, and she feels his wrinkled mouth brace her forehead.

"One more month," she repeats tiredly.

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Henley was still eating feverishly.

The other boys were forced to take turns waning on food runs and slipping in and out of drug stores with heartburn meds tucked under their sleeves.

Her breathing had started to shorten -not drastically- but continued to fall shakily from her lips at the quickest, dizziest moment.

The closer the due date came, the more irritation was in their timeline.

Dodging the FBI's insistent attacks during their shows was a lot more complicating when they had a pregnant woman on their hands and their getaway car wasn't close enough.

Actually, that was the same predicament they had tonight.

It was late September thirtieth, and it was surprisingly humid. Another attempt at capture from the FBI was in the midst, and Henley was being whiny. It was to the point that Merritt and Daniel just picked her up, one arm around her back, other locked around her legs, a makeshift wheelchair.

As they packed themselves tight in the car, Merritt sniffed, a look of disgust painting his face as he turned to Henley, who was suddenly stoic. "Did you piss?"

Her eyes widened marginally, and everyone in the car turned to look at her, as four words they've been waiting to hear, fall from her lips.

"My water just broke."

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_A/N: This is my most popular story, and I really enjoyed writing this! If you have any prompts for me -for any category, not just NYSM- let me know. Thank you guys for your reviews and favorites, ecetera, ecetera! You guys are perf! (:_


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: For **daseyloverwholived. **Spite the fact that I don't really ship them, I am super excited for this fic; hope you enjoy :)

_Prompt: my idea is Denley fic where Henley is pregnant._

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_**Month Nine. **_

Thanks to Jack's feverent driving, a half hour ride to the hospital diminished to a weak ten minutes. Every bump that was in their wake had Henley screeching out, followed by a pissed curse at Jack from Danny.

The minute they pulled into the emergency entrance, paramedics were swarming, with questioning looks as they pulled Henley out of the car, and Jack revved away to park.

No more questions were asked, as the redhead magician was thrust into a wheelchair and whisked away into the hospital. Danny sprinted after them, Merritt staying behind for Jack.

Abusive scents of antiseptics burned Daniel's nose as he followed the wheelchair, until he was pushing it into the room, where the medics were helping her into a hospital gown and were boosted her up onto the bed.

Nurses were already helping her get situated, marking her contractions and giving her soothing assurances as they thrust paperwork into Daniel's face and demanded he fill them out.

He was sitting just outside the open door, scribbling out paperwork fast and smudged, when Jack and Merritt whisked through the doors, faking complete stoicism as they passed doctors, shedding nods as they made their way toward the scruffy, worried magician.

Just as Daniel was scrawling out a forged signature was when the other half of the Four Horsemen approached. The three men walked into the room, to immediately be pushed out, lectured that only the immediate family could enter.

"I'm her husband," Daniel assured.

"I'm her father, and this is her brother," Merritt stated, wrapping an arm around Jack's shoulder. The younger man fit into his side, like they were actually family.

"Where is her mother?" asked the doctor.

"She passed away," Merritt said discreetly, "Now, my grandchild is about to be born, can I at least see her?"

That did the trick; pairs of mint scrubs were thrust into their hands, and they were pulling them on when another scream informed them that Henley was getting closer and closer to birthing her child.

The three men scrambled into the room. Daniel grabbed her hand, Jack grabbing the other at her opposite side. Merritt looked on with a worried expression, as another gutteral scream fell from her lips.

"Where the hell were you?" she seethed at Daniel, giving him an icy glare- "I swear to God, you forced me to have this damn thing in my stomach for nine months and-"

.

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Twelve hours.

Endless hours ticking by, with Henley cussing Daniel and yelling at Merritt and Jack for letting him and how she hated all of them. They were so horrible to her; they made her go through with this growth in her belly, with all these ugly side effects and with all this magic drama, which was brought up to the others' dismay.

Time ticked, ticked on.

The more Henley screamed, the closer she got to all of this being over.

Continuing on and on with her ranting, pausing through cries and screams, she questioned why the _hell _this was taking two million years -_her words- _when the doctor yelled out, "I see the head!"

Eyes wide, the swarming medics crowded around. Daniel peeked over her legs to see the doctor helping a shoulder, a hand, and slowly, the three other magicians encouraged her to just push a little more, a little more, come on, all the while the nurses were screeching as more body parts were exposed.

When the last foot was seperated, and the umbilical cord was cut, the Four Horsemen almost cheered.

Quickly, the nurses whisked the newborn off to get cleaned up. The minute the band of magicians were alone, Henley flopped back on the sweat-stained sheets, she turned to Daniel and her friends, gripping their hands loosely, "I'm sorry; I'm such a bitch and-"

"It's a pregnant-woman thing," they all said in unison, which caused them to fall into a fit of tired laughs, as Daniel curled into his girlfriend and Merritt took the hand Danny once occupied.

"I love you guys," she sighs, popping a kiss on Jack's cheek. The younger magician flushed, embarrassed, and for good measure, she kissed Merritt too. Of course, he tried to turn his head, which earned a slap on the arm from Daniel.

A long, comfortable silence fell between them, as they all took the sweet silence, after nine months, when Danny decided to do what he'd been lusting the past few months.

Slowly, he sifted off the bed and perched on one knee.

"Danny, what are you doing?" Henley asked, surprised.

He ignores her, instead retrieving the small black box in his pocket and popped the lid. Inside was a small ring, a thin gold band with a pose of little gold claws holding a small, but glittering diamond.

"Henley Reeves," he began, sudden nerves jumbling his insides as he felt his friends look at him with hopeful grins and loving expressions, "I have loved you since I met you and was such an idiot to lose you. But now that I have you back, and our family" -he looks at Merritt and Jack with a smile- "and this new child in our life, that it has only made us stronger."

He dares himself to look at the redhead, but he refuses, for he would break down if he saw her expression, "I love you to the moon and back and would be _crushed _if you said no. But I have to ask: Henley, will you marry me?"

Slowly, his glasz eyes look up to meet her lilac orbs, which were filled with unshed tears as she stared at him with what he could only say was love.

With a soft smile, she nods, "Yes."

And he swears he explodes because he has never been this happy in his life - through his hellish teen years, to his magic career lifting off, to meeting these people who he loves so much, he can't even explain, that he realizes that this was all worth it.

Worth all this crap to get to where he is now- and he wouldn't change a thing.

When he slides the small ring around her finger, he can see the hearts in her eyes and he kisses her gently.

That's when the baby comes in the room, and the nurse smiles at their family moment; the three men circling the bed, the kiss, the _love _radiating off them, that she silently crosses the room and lays the baby on Henley's stomach and says a quiet congratulations before patting her on the hand before leaving.

Bright azure eyes peek through tender eyelids at the magicians, and when Henley whispers a quiet, "Hello, gorgeous," the baby smiles a toothless smile, letting loose a giggle.

The redhead mother looks around the room, drinking in Daniel's excitement, Merritt's proud-father expression, and Jack's adoring smile, she feels complete.

And she knows at that moment, that things can finally be okay.

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_A/N: Plot twist! A marriage! Wow! Crap! Thank you guys for all your support- if I didn't have it, I probably would have this story discontinued. And thank you to _**daseyloverwholived** _for sending this prompt because I fell in love with it! Thanks guys!_


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: For **daseyloverwholived. **Spite the fact that I don't really ship them, I am super excited for this fic; hope you enjoy :)

_Prompt: my idea is Denley fic where Henley is pregnant._

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_**Epilogue**_

-Five months later..-

"I think Jack's in love," Merritt states, leaning against the door leading into the Henley and Daniel's bedroom, watching Jack stroll through the room, cooing at baby Stella, who giggles a toothless grin up at him.

Her bright mauve eyes glint in the sunlight as the young magician spins her around in the air. When she's complete playing airplane, she smiles and smacks his jaw with her chubby hand, giggling at his mock-surprise.

A new laugh, a semblance of Henley's, falls from her mouth, when the redhead magician sneaks up behind them and plucks the baby from the younger, who pouts as Henley bounces the baby girl on her hip.

Stella reaches up and tugs at the end of her mother's riglets, similar to the russet-blond fuzz on her head, with her crystal-violet eyes. The mother smiles taking the baby's chubby hand and swaying with her in a little dance.

Merritt punches Daniel in the arm, snapping the scruffy magician from his reverie. The man was so engrossed in seeing his wife and daughter, his most important people in his life, second to the rest of the Four Horsemen.

"She's beautiful," Jack whispers, and Daniel wonders which he's talking about, so he turns and smiles at the young man before saying,

"Yeah, they are."

Jack smiles, a light chuckle falling from his lips as he and Merritt watch the magician skip across the room, his arms encircling his wife's waist and poking his head over her shoulder to peer at Stella.

Stella Renae Atlas.

He remembers when her name came to be.

It was a late autumn day, the second of October, a few days after Stella was born, when they were venturing through a baby names book. Jack and Merritt were down in the cafeteria, and it was just the two of them, their untitled daughter in Henley's lap on the bed, her head leaning back on the redhead magician's lean stomach.

Daniel was amusing the darling girl by pulling a quarter from her ear, which seemed to make an ecstatic giggle from his daughter's mouth, when she snatched the quarter from his hand and hid her chubby fist behind his ear, pulling it into his view with complete giddiness when he said,

"Good job, Stella."

It took him a minute to realize that he'd said it, and looked up to find Henley looking back with a soft smile. Their daughter giggled and looked down at the quarter, folding it around in her fingers with a concentrated expression. Then, she went to put in her mouth.

"No, Stella," Henley whispers, placing a clip of her fingers aroud the silver coin, whisking it around and tossing it back at Danny. As the father did the quarter trick again, Henley ventured, "Stella Atlas." The mother looked down at the small diamond encased on her finger.

They shared a smile, confirming their daughter's christened name.

Renae was Merritt's doing.

It was a few days after Stella was officially upgraded from Untitled, and they were crowded in their hospital room, eating junky takeout food that Henley was groaning about, when they fell upon one of Merritt's infamous tales.

The older man was telling a story of a girlfriend named Aviana Renae, whom he met through his assistant at the time, Alyssa, when Henley said, "Stella Renae Atlas."

They all turned to look at her, when Merritt laughed, "Okay."

At that moment, they called to the nurse, who scribbled the name over Stella's small footprints inked on her birth certificate.

"Congratulations," the nurse smiled, and the Four Horsemen fawned over the certificate.

"So, we're the _Five Horsemen _now?" Jack proposes, and a gentle laugh sprinkled around the room. He was leaning over to peer at the certificate, when two chubby hands clawed his shirt.

They all looked down to see Stella pawing at him, so he lifted her, muttering, "Hello, precious," and danced her around her room, much to her enjoyment.

And that was the moment they also realized that Jack was in love with the newborn.

Now, as the linked family stood there, dancing silently around the room, Henley looked out the window. Sunlight poured on them, making Stella's hair sparkle and her eyes glow. Beautiful.

"Same," Henley mutters, and Daniel slows kissing her neck, to peer around into her eyes.

"Huh?" he asks, and the baby coos.

"I love you to the moon and back, also," Henley replies, and they kiss, smooth lips to her ruby ones, when Stella scrambles out of her mother's arms and uses her mother's body as a ladder to the floor, where she coddles on her mother's calf a long moment, before army-crawling off toward the door.

A few seconds later, just as the baby reached the door, she rolled over and tugged her torso up, giving her family a look as if saying, _aren't you coming?_

Smiling, Daniel looked at his grinning wife, who immediately untangled herself from him and went to grab the baby's right hand.

Daniel grinned, grabbing her left hand, and together, they swung back in to the rest of their family, who were waiting for them.

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_A/N: Ta-daa! I hope you enjoyed this journey as much as I did! Shout-outs to Alyssa, aka _**daseyloverwholived **_who I praise for this prompt! Go check out her page! And Aviana was her idea! Thanks, for your support, and please check out my other stories! I may write another fic similar to this; I dunno! But thanks guys!_


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